General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1976, last revised 1989)

• Article 10, section 1 states, "The people shall exercise political power through universal, equal, direct, secret and periodic suffrage, and through other forms laid down in this Constitution."
• Article 49, section 1 states, "All citizens over the age of 18 years have the right to vote, unless subject to an incapacity under the general law."
• Article 50, section1 states, "All citizens have the right, equally and without restriction, to hold public office."

Electoral Law
Electoral Law of the Assembly of the Republic
(1979, last amended 2003)

• Article 1, section 1 states, “Portuguese citizens over 18 years enjoy electoral capacity.”

Specific Inclusion of People with Disabilities
Constitution
(1976, last revised 1989)

• Article 71, section 1 states, "Citizens who are physically or mentally disabled shall enjoy all the rights and be subject to all the duties contained in this Constitution, except to the extent that their disability renders them unfit to exercise or perform them."
• Article 71, section 2 states, "The State shall implement a national policy for the prevention of disability, and for the treatment, rehabilitation and integration of disabled persons, shall educate the community to be aware of its duties of respect for them and solidarity with them, and shall ensure that they enjoy their rights to the full extent subject to the rights and duties of their parents or guardians.
• Article 71, section 3 states, "The State shall provide assistance to associations of disabled persons."

Exclusion Based on Intellectual Disability
Electoral Law
Electoral Law of the Assembly of the Republic
(1979, last amended 2003)

• Article 2 states, “Do not enjoy electoral capacity...b) Those notoriously known as mentally ill, even if not judicially, when admitted to a psychiatric institution or declared as scu hby a board of two doctors.”

Voter Assistance
Electoral Law
Electoral Law of the Assembly of the Republic
(1979, last amended 2003)

• Article 97 states...
• Voters affected by illness or notorious physical disability such that they cannot perform the acts described in Article 96, may be accompanied by a voter of their choice which still ensures the expression of the vote and absolute secrecy.”
• If the board decides there is no verification of the notoriety of the physical disability, a certificate stating the impossibility of the acts referred to above, issued by a doctor in the municipality and authenticated with the seal of their department must be submitted.

• Constitution - http://www.tribunalconstitucional.pt/tc/conteudo/files/constituicaoingles.pdf
• Law on Parliamentary Elections - http://www.portaldoeleitor.pt/Documents/DecretosLei/AssembleiaRepublica/44-ara-lei-eleitoral-ar.pdf